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Overview

Meet Joan. She’s a powerhouse in the nonprofit sector, Principal of Joan Garry Consulting and founder of the Nonprofit Leadership Lab. With a blog reaching 150,000 leaders monthly and a podcast, Nonprofits Are Messy, with over 2 million listens from 207 countries 🌎, Joan is a sought-after executive coach and strategic advisor for major organizations. Her remarkable journey includes turning around GLAAD during a deep financial crisis (with just $360 in the bank 😬), leading it to prominence and impact. In this episode, we explore the necessity of injecting innovation into nonprofits and the hallmarks of an innovative, modern nonprofit professional. Join us as we uncover the secret sauce to nonprofit success, featuring Joan’s stories that had us literally laughing out loud 🤣

💡 Learn

Innovation in Nonprofit Leadership
Case Study: Leading GLAAD
How to move from Strategic Planning to Strategic Visioning

Today’s Guest

Joan Garry, Principal, Joan Garry Consulting and Founder, Nonprofit Leadership Lab

“I’ve never understood anybody who could approve the budget and then put together organizational goals for the year.”

— Joan Garry, Principal, Joan Garry Consulting and Founder, Nonprofit Leadership Lab

Episode Transcript

Download Full Episode Transcript Here

Episode Highlights

Joan’s journey to where she is today (4:35)

How nonprofits can inject more innovation into their work (10:00)
Hallmarks of an innovative, modern-day nonprofit professional (14:00)
GLAAD Case Study (21:00)
Strategic Planning for the New Year (32:00)
Practical tips to integrate innovation into the new year (32:00)

Strategic Visioning instead of Strategic Planning
Marketing Innovation to the Board
Budgeting

A powerful moment of philanthropy in Joan’s life (45:00)
Joan’s One Good Thing: Start to think like a partner. (53:00)
How to connect with Joan (54:00)

Impactful Quotes

“Everything I do fills me with great joy. I’ve always been that kind of person.” -Joan

“I don’t think the nonprofit sector is very good at innovation.” -Joan

“Boards stay on the tarmac and we keep them in the weeds, and they stay there.” -Joan

“There is no direct correlation between the size of your budget and the impact you are able to have in the world.” -Joan

“I think of nonprofit leaders as superheroes and I think they have a lot of superpowers. I think innovation is a big piece of kryptonite.” -Joan

“Their need to deliver for their communities or their causes was greater than their fear.” -Joan

“I made the argument, we could do both, we could wag our fingers, and celebrate, and that we could actually get on the inside and make a difference.” -Joan

“You have to have your your eyes open. You can't have your head down.” -Joan

“I've never understood anybody who could approve the budget and then put together organizational goals for the year.” -Joan

“I created a culture that we were all in this together.” -Joan

“I’m a huge fan of quick wins.” -Joan

“You have to have your eyes open, you can’t have your head down.” -Joan

“People want to know where you are going.” -Joan

“When they leave the board, one of the things they can say is I was really part of transforming the culture of this organization into one of innovation.” -Joan

“I want to see a board that has moved from a mindset of risk management.” -Joan

“They're in love with your organization when they come and if they aren't, you shouldn't invite them to come.” -Joan

“Start to think like a partner.” -Joan

“You as a person who runs an organization, the power doesn't come from you. The power comes from all around you.” -Joan

“If you don't treat them like partners, you do that at your own peril. Because people equals power. The more people you invite to your party, the more power you have and those people will stay at your party a good long while if they feel like their voice matters, and that you actually work in partnership with them.” -Joan

“We want you to find your people because no one needs to go at this alone. And guess what, when we lean in, that's when the magic is going to happen.” -Becky

“Do we have alignment around our strategic vision?” -Joan

“Strategic plans are generally work plans filled with OKRs and they suck every bit of creative juice out of a process.” -Joan

Resources from Joan

The 14 Attributes of a Thriving Nonprofit: There are fourteen things the best non-profit organizations do really well. Download Joan’s free guide to dig deeper into these attributes.

Nonprofit Board of Directors Assessment Tool: Want to assess your board in a deeper way? Joan created an in-depth board assessment quiz.

Nonprofit Leadership Lab: Skip the waitlist and join today to save 25% on your first year of Nonprofit Leadership Lab membership